Actually, that’s two if you count Jenni Byrne, who – according to amateur PMOlogist, Anon – may soon has emerged from the shadows of senior advisordom, and has officially taken over Issues Management.
Actually, that’s two if you count Jenni Byrne, who – according to amateur PMOlogist, Anon – may soon has emerged from the shadows of senior advisordom, and has officially taken over Issues Management.
UPDATE: See below for more details on what went down between Byrne and Beardsley under Brodie’s watch.
MORE UPDATIER EVEN: A special afternoon edition of GiornoWatch!
According to this week’s Hill Times, however, official bragging rights for being the very first female to be called up from the ranks of mid-level ministeria by the Giornolissimo himself go to … Lynette Corbett, the freshly installed director of strategic planning, a newly created position within the Muttartian Empire. Which, of course, is also called Strategic Planning, but we’re guessing that Corbett won’t be directing him around anytime soon, and by soon, we mean ever.
Don’t worry, it’s not just you – we’d never heard of her before either. She seems to have gotten her start with Gerry Ritz – the Agriculture Minister, and yes, you really should have heard of him, at least (if not, you will now that his bold, courageous and – dare we say novel? – scheme to deregulate modernize and streamline food safety through industry self-regulation has leaked out). Where were we? Oh right, Lynette Corbett. Anyway, she seems to have joined his office after his ascension to Agriculture, because she doesn’t seem to have been around during his tenure as Secretary of State (Small Business and Tourism), and that’s about all we’ve got to say about her. (Hey, at least we’re honest about it. )
Still in limbo – at least officially – is the fate of Mark Cameron, formerly director of Policy and Research. Since the Giornolution got underway, he has been reportedly assigned to a variety of squishy-sounding at-large directorships – “long term planning”, “platform development” , “strategic policy” – all of which sound eminently plausible. This week’s Hill Times has him listed as director of plans and priorities, which would seem to encompass pretty much everything or, alternately, nothing at all, depending on how the various internal PMO power struggles play out.
His replacement at Policy and Research, however, has been universally reported to be his former deputy director, Darrel Reid. A longtime Reformer and former aide to Preston Manning, Reid is perhaps best known for his stint as president of Focus on the Family Canada, the Canadian franchise of the powerful American evangelic lobby group of the same name. Reid has been orbiting the Prime Minister’s Office in one capacity or another since the last election -during which he was narrowly defeated by Liberal MP Raymond Chan, including serving as PMO’s handpicked chief of staff to Rona Ambrose during her final spasms as Environment Minister before unpacking his bags at P&R. Does this mean a sharp swerve to the right in policy? Heck if we know. We’re also not sure how that would fit into the ultrasuperduperpartisan PMO of the not so distant future that all those anonymous – but senior – sources have been describing to various reporters with such remarkable consistency.
Okay, that’s what we’ve got – anyone have any theories/predictions/wild-eyed speculation to share?
UPDATE: Apparently, Byrne actually took over Beardsley’s post back in January, long before Guy Giorno was tapped to replace Brodie. As for Beardsley, he was demoted to “senior advisor” — the same title that Byrne had held under Brodie – but lasted barely a day into the new regime before handing in his resignation.